Jul. 31-Aug. 6
STAFF Make a commitment in August to really listen to your staff verbally interact on the sales floor. Listen to the questions they are asking customers, product-knowledge statements, and their “tests” to ease the closing of a sale.
TRAINING Talk to your vendors about providing some training to staff. When suppliers and especially designers tell their stories, staff can share that with the customer, enhancing the buying experience.
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Aug. 7-13
MANAGEMENT Another summer project: Color code your keys. Some stores have as many as 30 identical-looking keys on a ring, each of which will open only one case. The result is a long wait for the customer as the sales associate fiddles around trying to find the right key. Rid your store of such inefficiency.
BUYING Inventory and re-count your whole store. This will let you know exactly what you’ve got ahead of the upcoming holidays. And if you find inventory that hasn’t moved for quite some time, there’s still time for a late summer sale with benign markdowns to move it.
Aug. 14-20
MARKETING The Internet is no place for modesty. Consider posting everything that will enhance your image or inform. That means: your credentials, your experience, your location, hours and after-hours contact information, text of or links to articles you have written, appropriate volunteer efforts with which you’re involved, your blog, and updates and insights on news.
SALES What’s great about your jewelry store? Come up with a list with staff and then have everyone memorize it so highlights can be shared with customers when appropriate.
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Aug. 21-27
SHOP Your ultrasonic is supposedly cleaning jewelry, but who’s cleaning the ultrasonic? Check your unit for buildups of solution residue.
ONLINE The path to a well-stocked online inventory starts with a single bracelet. E-commerce is a daunting investment of time, but it is also something you can tiptoe into by adding a few items every month. That keeps people coming to your site to check out the fresh stuff. And after a year or two, you’ll have a significant portion of your inventory online. Start this week.
Aug. 28-Sep. 3
SHOP Look into helping your jewelers set up a bench at home with the necessary equipment so that they can work remotely if needed.
TRAINING Do you have a fancy SLR camera that no longer gets much use because you use your phone for everything? Yes, us too. But as good as iPhone and Samsung cameras are, you could likely get better. Sign up you or your employees for a course that teaches you how to take better product and social media pictures with your smartphone. (For iPhone users, check out iPhonePhotographySchool.com.)